Acadia National Park

June 01, 2024

Having escaped New York and eaten our way through New England, we were glad to safely arrive in Bar Harbor as the sun was setting and the tide was receding. The tide was a key element, as it gave us a chance to walk along a spit to an island that would otherwise have been submerged. We made our way up to the "summit", or whatever you would call 50 metres of elevation. The most interesting feature on the island was the ruins of a house, which surprisingly was knocked down by the National Park service once it found some of its employees holding clandestine parties there at night. Back on the mainland, we treated ourselves with the most affordable lobster roll we had yet found, and enjoyed dinner at a park watching the water steel itself for the evening.

One of the hikes I was most looking forward to doing was closed for peregrine nesting. Fine, I'll let the birds win this time. But the consolation hike still delivered with thrilling views. The Beehive was named for its cliff face with cracked granite boulders. Into these boulders, iron rungs were installed so all could share the view of the gulf after a sweaty clamber. I could understand now why the peregrines would choose to nest on a similar perch.
 
The next hike was a loop around Jordan Pond, nearby an old summer cottage of an older Rockefeller. The path around the lake was calm and easy, although halfway through required another bout of scrambling. This time, we pulled our way up to the Bubble, a giant glacial erratic boulder seemingly about to teeter off the cliff to the highway below. The wind at the top sure was giving it a red hot go, giving it some good huffs and puffs.
The final hikes hewed close to Cadillac Mountain, alleged to be the highest mountain on the Atlantic coast of the US. It was a long and gentle walk to the top from the south, although once the trees gave way to a barren granite ridge, the wind picked up with a crazed passion. It whipped the high clouds in time for a gorgeous sunset on the return hike down. For our efforts, we rewarded ourselves with a cream pie and a bottle of blueberry soda. Approved by Maine's Department of Health.
 
We enjoyed the hike so much that we made the same trip to the summit of Cadillac, although this time from the north. We started in a cool, damp canyon and attacked the summit from its side, before making our way down the north ridge. Maybe it was because we were hiking it in the daytime, but the trail was far busier and the views not quite as tuned as the previous evening. We finished the day by cruising over to the west side of Mount Desert Island. At the southern tip of the island, we hopped down the cliffs to the sea level to glimpse the Bass Harbor lighthouse. This was unimpressive--we'd seen far more imposing lighthouses in much more dramatic settings. Still, gotta pay respects to the dudes of yore who spent their nights tending to the light, warning long-gone sailors who (like us) were lured to the beauty of these gouged and grizzled ranks of volcanic rock.

Was die Mutter nicht weiß, macht sie nicht heiß